This I Believe

I believe that children have too much homework. No, I am not a middle school student, though I have one! It is perhaps because I have a 13 year-old child that I have formed this belief.

For seven years a child is in elementary school, learning the basic building blocks of knowledge on which they will build their future. These are important, formulative years, and while at school, a child will spend 6 hours a day, 186 days a year in this worthy pursuit of knowledge. Outside of school, they will spend increasing more and more time on continuing that pursuit at home doing “homework,” hopefully with the loving support of a parent.

After grade school, that child will progress to middle and high schools, where the days at school are longer, and so, too, are the hours of homework. After 7 hours at school, a child can expect 1-3 hours of homework per night. Moving beyond basic skills and knowledge, it is during these years that students enter the more complex work of learning. With each passing year, the concepts get more difficult, the expectations for performance increase, and the end results carry more weight as college looms ahead.

So when does this child get to experience quality time with their family? I can assure you, it is not during homework time! I love my child, and I cherish greatly the moments that we have together. But homework time is not one of the cherished moments. After a long day of work and managing the house and yard, when I get home at 5 pm I don’t get to relax and enjoy making dinner. I don’t get to have fun and play with my child and hear about her day. I have to be the homework cop. First I have to ascertain what work has to be done, and then I have to help her with the work while I watch her frustration build. Inevitably this leads to an argument, and the lasting effects of this struggle will spill over into what is only a few hours a day that I even get to spend with my child. At times, we even have homework over the weekends. Notice I said “we,” because I truly feel like I have homework as well! As if I didn’t serve my time already when I was a student!

Is all this homework really necessary? I know that repetition is the key to learning. I can still sing the lyrics to just about every Top 40 song from the 1970s. But how much of it is repetition for the sake of repetition versus a truly helpful and important augmentation to the in-school learning experience?

I have been through elementary, middle, and high schools, as well as college and even law school. And I teach college now. But I believe my time with my child is precious, and at times I am very resentful of teachers for taking that time away from me. I believe children have too much homework, and I implore teachers to weigh carefully what assignments truly must be done at home versus those that can be done within the confines of the school day.

Shop on Amazon and support This I Believe

We receive up to 10% of every purchase you make on Amazon through this link. So do all your holiday shopping here and help support This I Believe!

Top 100 Essays USB Drive

This USB drive contains 100 of the top This I Believe audio broadcasts of the last ten years, plus some favorites from Edward R. Murrow's radio series of the 1950s. It's perfect for personal or classroom use! Click here to learn more.

This week’s essay

Growing up in the former Yugoslavia, lawyer Djenita Pasic enjoyed the peace of her religiously diverse country. But after the fall of communism and the outbreak of the Bosnian War, Pasic was forced to reevaluate her ideas about religion and tolerance. Click here to read her essay.